What are pocket door accessories and why are they important?
The pocket door is much more than a simple functional feature of the home. Every room needs a door, of course, but the pocket door brings aesthetic style in its neat and seamless operation, and the way in which it creates space and disappears from view opens up options to create new rooms, make rooms multi-purpose and to design flexible spaces. But the versatility and practical advantages of the pocket door don’t end there, because the range of pocket door accessories that are available bring even more lifestyle enhancements to the table and ensure pocket door systems are the smart interior design solution for the 21st century.
How do pocket door accessories benefit the user?
Pocket door accessories are a range of products that can be installed with your pocket door, or retrofitted at a later date, to enhance its operation and to control how the door works to suit the user. These are relatively simple features that in most cases are discreet and unobtrusive and which bring practical benefits to help in the everyday operation of the door.
So pocket door accessories are a simple way to upgrade your pocket door and tailor it to create a bespoke operation. This would make the pocket door more suitable and adapt it to different environments, such as where there are lots of children, where energy efficiency needs to be tightly controlled, or where there are people with limited mobility or who have accessibility needs. So pocket door accessories are important because they bring lifestyle benefits and ensure the door assembly is working to the benefit of the user and is adapted to the environment it is located in.
The different pocket door accessories available
The typical pocket door accessories available include:
- Soft close/anti-slam feature
Doors can also be slammed shut by children and adults accidently, or without thinking about it. The soft close/anti-slam feature controls the closing action of the door and ensures it reaches the ‘closed’ position slowly. This prevents slamming and the potential damage, injury and noise that creates. This accessory can be installed to control the closing action only, but also to control both the closing and opening action.
When a pocket door is fully open it disappears from view and sits in the wall recess known as the ‘pocket’. This is the seamless and clean aesthetic that attracts a lot of people to the pocket door. However, when you come to close the door again it can be awkward to grip the door if it is fully in the pocket, as the narrow pocket and door width means there isn’t much to grip and the fingers can become trapped. It is possible to insert a stopper in the pocket which means the door sits proud of the pocket by a few inches and can be gripped more easily, but this does restrict the amount of opening space in the doorway. A touch latch system is built into the door edge itself and is essentially a cassette system which works by ejecting the door from the pocket when you touch the leading edge of the door, enabling you to grip it. This is a simple and effective operation which prevents safety issues and maximises your passage width. The touch latch accessory is available for both classic and Syntesis pocket doors.
- Double door co-ordination
When operating double pocket doors it can be awkward to have to open both doors together, this can also be challenging for people with disabilities or limited mobility. A double door co-ordination system works by linking the two doors together and enabling a user to open both doors via the action of simply pushing one open. This requires the minimum of effort and creates much better accessibility arrangements. Double door co-ordination is obviously only available for double pocket doors, but can be installed on both classic and Syntesis pocket door systems.
A self-closing accessory works much how a regular door closer works on a traditional hinged door. So if this is installed it will automatically close the pocket door once it has been opened and it will also control this action so the door doesn’t close too quickly or with too much force. This feature is ideal for locations where a person is frequently carrying items through a doorway, such as in hospitality or healthcare settings, or where a person has accessibility issues. The user doesn’t have to turn around to close a door or put extra effort into closing the door, and can be assured that it will safely close behind them. This also enhances security, health and safety and energy efficiency. The self-closing feature can be added to single or double pocket doors.
Order your pocket door accessories from MB Direct
At MB Direct we have a range of pocket door accessories for you to choose from, and you can select the feature that will bring you the most practical benefits and order online today.